A Piece of This Post Isn’t a Very Hot Item

Boulder, Colo., schoolteachers Bill and Cheryl Dennler say they have learned their lesson.

On Nov. 4, Bill Dennler watched elated fans topple the goal post at Folsom Field in Boulder after Colorado beat Nebraska, in effect assuring the Buffaloes of a trip to the Orange Bowl.

The Dennlers took out a second mortgage on their home to finance sales of slices of the goal post, mounted on a wooden base with the CU logo, for $59.95. They obtained the goal post from the university, which is to receive 10% of any profits.

But there apparently won’t be any.

The Dennlers’ family room is stacked with about 400 plaques. “We’ve only sold about 50 of them,” Cheryl Dennler said. “We’ve learned a lot about marketing. We’ve learned that we’re not salespeople. We’ll never do it again.”

Trivia time: Rookie Tony Mandarich of the Green Bay Packers, the first offensive lineman taken in the NFL draft, did not start a game this season. Who was the last offensive lineman to be chosen first and not start a game during his rookie season?

Part of a tradition: Carmen Cozza, Yale’s football coach, recalled being an assistant at Miami of Ohio in 1963 when head coach John Pont left for Yale. Cozza was beaten out for the Miami job by another assistant, Bo Schembechler, who will coach his final game for Michigan today. Cozza, a Cleveland native, took over at Yale when Pont became coach at Indiana.

Any regrets after 25 years at Yale? Cozza told Joe Concannon of the Boston Globe: “I came from a country school to a school surrounded by a city. It was a different experience. I didn’t realize the beauty of this place until I started walking through the courtyards, and I realized football as we know it today really started here. I’ve never wanted to leave.”

Grass is greener: Alan Page, Hall of Fame defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, on playing on artificial turf: “I suppose you could say it was novel, at the beginning. But at the time, I was playing on good fields and ice fields and fields with no grass on them. This was another variation for the list. But it was at the bottom of the list.”

A sore winner: Lee Remmel, the Green Bay Packers’ publicity director, on being a reporter during Coach Vince Lombardi’s era: “When he was winning, (Lombardi) was very arrogant answering questions. When he lost, he had a certain amount of humility and was easy to talk to. But then Vince never had a losing season.”

Living the concept: Former Raider linebacker Matt Millen has a chance for a third Super Bowl ring, this time as a San Francisco 49er. Millen on his former team: “When you would watch them the last few years, you’d look at No. 55 and say, ‘That’s what a Raider is.’ Am I wrong or right? I epitomized it.”

Letter head: Reliever Mark Davis, on being reunited with former Padre teammate Storm Davis on the Kansas City Royals’ staff: “My back was getting to feel a little light without the ‘M’ on my uniform.”

Trivia answer: Ken Huff of the 1975 Baltimore Colts.

Quotebook: Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post on track star Carl Lewis’ new look, featuring a fake ponytail: “He looks like the child of Grace Jones and Paul Revere.”